


Oathkeeper

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, No Donald and Goofy, Pining, Retelling, also sora has lots of feelings about each world he goes to, and Kairi stays with Sora to find Riku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 03:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18274643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: There’s a ker-thunk as Sora's Keyblade tumbles into the dirt road; he didn’t realize he was still holding it, but Kairi put it down for him.“Sorry,” he mumbles, shoving his knuckle against his cheek to catch some tears.She smiles.  “It’s okay.  Um.  So where do we start looking for Riku?”Sora pulls away and looks around them.  Green hills roll on endlessly.  “Um.  Well, you kinda just go until it works out.  I found you on a pirate ship which I definitely didn’t expect.”“A pirate ship?” she giggles.  They twist next to each other and lead the other down the hills, hand in hand.“Yeah, a pirate ship.  Hey.  Let me tell you all about it.”[a storybook styled retelling of Kingdom Hearts]





	Oathkeeper

Sora is in love with Kairi. But don't tell anyone because it's super embarrassing. His best friend already knows about it; otherwise he wouldn't have done that bit with the Paopu Fruit. Ugh.

The three of them are planning to sail off the island and find new horizons. But one night Kairi makes a joke. She pretends to get so excited about leaving the island with _just_ Sora, but Sora doesn't play along. He's too smitten by Kairi to understand that she's joking. So it gets a little awkward between them.

Sometimes Sora sits around and does nothing but fantasize. He pictures himself as a daring do adventurer, and he vaults through crazy disasters to rescue his girl from the clutches of evil. It's pretty fun, and it makes him feel better about losing the race against his friend.

But then the black creatures take over the island. They slink out from the shadows and it's so dark, all Sora can see is their beady eyes. He seeks shelter in the cave everyone's too scared to go into and he finds Kairi. But something's wrong. It looks like she's dying.

It turns out all those fantasies he was having about scouring the universe searching for his dear Kairi? It's not that far off from reality.

But his reality isn't nearly as fun.

* * *

" _Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too! I'll come back to you! I promise!"_

" _I know you will!"_

* * *

Sora wants to wake up and be in such a surreal place that it will be easy to swear this all of as being part of a bad dream. But he knows that's not true. See, Sora already fought his own living, breathing nightmare, so that's the end of that discussion.

The town he ends up isn't really anything out of the ordinary. It's rustic with a couple luxuries, mostly occupied by people estranged from their own worlds. Kinda like Sora. Except they've settled into this place. This is home to them now.

The writhing black creatures with bulbous yellow eyes follow him here. After some time, a new kind of monster rears its ugly head. This one wears a little costume and bent up helmet. They pirouette around and he really has to be careful when going toe to toe with them.

This is not what they planned on sailing out for. This is scary.

It doesn't help that there are no children here. Just adults. Tough looking adults too, not like the ones from his island.

They tell him what to do. They talk about Keyholes and Heartless and this guy Ansem and Sora doesn't understand. They talk for so long about this deep lore and he kinda wishes that they would just take care of it. But apparently it's up to Sora.

The scarred man in the leather jacket carries this odd resentment for Sora. He obviously wants his weapon, and Sora would happily hand it over to him. But it just warps back into his grip. So Sora kinda gets why the scarred man doesn't like him very much.

So he has to save the world now. Really he just wants to find his friends, but ah well. He'll give it his best shot. He has to travel through all these worlds anyways. But the priority is Kairi — and his friend! Obviously. Though his friend did get consumed in a freaky, dark portal. So that search might be a long shot.

Sora stays at the weird town a little longer than he probably should. He wanders the moonlit streets, searching for what's out there. It's surprisingly compact. The hotel is pretty cool, he likes the different colored rooms. The gizmo room is neat too, though Sora can't figure out how to use the lift.

He comes across these two wealthy dalmatians that have lost all ninety nine of their children. It makes Sora sad and even though he's already looking for Kairi and his friend, he promises to help them too. No one should have to deal with such loss.

He also meets a bonafide wizard. He turns out to be quite the character. For instant, he can make furniture float around and organize itself, yet somehow his little home is still cluttered with tilting stacks of books.

Bt after many days pass, it becomes clear that no one is looking for him.

So Sora fights the floating violet armor set with phantom limbs. He likes it when the claws spin around it. He jams his Keyblade up against the hands and the whole body of armor rocks backwards, giving him ample time to dent up the monster with his apparently all powerful weapon.

This is fun, he decides. On to the next world.

* * *

" _A true hero! Great! Uh, how exactly do you become a true hero?"_

* * *

Sora's not a fan of the goat man. His assertions that Sora is not yet a true Hero are insulting.

But then Sora meets the Greek Demigod. He's almost twice Sora's height and has muscles bigger than Sora's head. He's kind, funny, and humble. Sora's not any of those really.

So he stays here and practices. He batters his blade against barrels until they fly off like a golf ball. He tries to line his attacks up so that the barrels fly into each other. Not until does it save him time, it saves him strength. It's not easy after all. He trains until his biceps protest and burn. Then he trains some more. He decides he won't stop until it becomes easy. He can't go out there if he's not a true hero and if he wants to save Kairi, he'll have to be.

So Sora is almost excited when the Three Headed Dog terrorizes the colosseum. He gets his blade ready and even though the dog's teeth are as long as his own body, he figures out how to outwit the thing and defeats it.

He's as ready as he'll ever be, so he decides it's time to go.

On the way out the gates, the goat man stops him. Sora initially thinks the goat man is going to try to stop him from going out there. But instead he dubs him a Junior Hero.

It boosts Sora's spirits. A little.

* * *

" _When I get home, I shall write a book about this place. If I...if I ever do get home."_

* * *

Sora doesn't like this wacky world. As wonderful and extravagant as it is, it's too on-the-nose.

Everyone here is contradictory. There's the rabbit who only talks about time but is somehow always late. The queen who demands there to be a trial but skews the evidence in her favor.

What an odd place. Plants demand potions from him in exchange for helping him navigate the scary wood. The chairs at the tea table fall over when he tries to sit in them, and a gang of monsters spawns to fight him. The purple cat grins and acts so smart for knowing so much, but he's mostly coy and unhelpful.

It makes Sora anxious. He wants to sort things out here but there's no time. He needs to find his friends and go home. He's sure the little girl in blue feels the same way about it all. She's from a different world too. He wants to talk to her, but she gets kidnapped during the trial. His heart sinks at the sight of the empty cage. Add another checkbox to his to-do list.

He decides to leave. He beats up the monster with a tower of heads, seals the Keyhole, and moves on.

* * *

" _Go ahead. Shoot me. Be a man."_

" _Not like you."_

* * *

For a while, Sora thinks that this jungle might be part of his own world. The people who live here are normal. No magic spells or bizarre creatures to speak of. There is a weird moment though when he's helping the scientists build a slide show for the monkey man. One of the slides has a castle on it, a scary castle at that...and though Sora's never seen it before, it feels familiar.

There's a voice inside him telling him that they know this castle. But he doesn't identify the voice. He's scared he's going crazy so he doesn't bring it up. Then things get heated (as they do) so he doesn't have time to think about his inner-spiral anywho.

See, the hunter, the most civilized of them all, tries to kill a gorilla. It makes Sora sick. Who would want to kill such a beautiful creature?

That's when the dark monsters come. At every turn, Sora finds them. It seems that it's inevitable.

It's amazing; all it takes is one person to succumb. Is that why his island was destroyed? Because of his friend?

No.

He can't think that way.

It soon becomes clear that the hunter will not be reasoned with. Sora pleads for him to stop but the hunter raises his rifle to them. He frowns and he says nothing. So there's a horrible fight.

Sora kills him.

He wants to feel bad about it, but he knows he can't let it get to him. He needs to find Kairi and his friend. So he goes to the next world.

* * *

" _Trouble? No way! You're only in trouble if you get caught!"_

* * *

Sora admires the thief; he owns nothing and yet still he sacrifices everything. The thief nearly dies several times fighting for the princess, and when it comes to his mystical genie, he wishes for its freedom instead of his own. The thief is selfless, and he doesn't carry a chip on his shoulder like the scarred man in the leather jacket.

The thief has fun. It reminds Sora of how he felt beating up the floating violet armor.

So when Sora and the thief take on the royal vizier, it feels like a game.

There's a great moment when the vizier crackles with dark power and blows out the floor, rising from the magma as an all powerful genie.

Sora and the thief make eye contact, the strategy immediately set. It's like they can read each other's minds. The thief heads off the vizier while Sora tracks down the lamp.

No one has to die this time and though Sora's trying not to think about these things, it does make it easier.

* * *

" _A boy who won't be good might as well be made out of wood."_

* * *

Sora's sad.

He finds his lost friend. Turns out he's deluded. Weirdly distant and angry. Sora doesn't really understand why. Isn't this a fun adventure? They're inside of a whale floating around in space. It's innards are labyrinthine; Sora keeps tumbling back into rooms and sometimes the trick exits make him laugh.

But his friend doesn't even crack a grin. He thinks nothing of all this. He's decided he's going to kill the puppet boy. He doesn't think a child made out of wood needs his heart, and he's going to give it to Kairi.

But the boy is human. His friend won't believe Sora, but he knows he might as well be flesh and blood. He laughs and he makes jokes. When he lies, his nose grows. It's endearing, and Sora wants to save him. Because he's very clearly human.

But Sora's friend doesn't understand. He is enveloped in grief and even though he's on the adventure of his dreams, he won't find joy in the fantasy. Sora can feel the power of the darkness more than ever and it scares him. He's scared for his friend, he needs to save him.

He feels sad. He's already seen so much and it's only been a few weeks. So many faces he never expected to encounter, friends he never thought he'd make. He feels more alive than ever and full of love. Yet his friend acts like the puppet is just scrap wood that should get incinerated.

Sora doesn't want to be like his friend. When he flies away, he's not sure if he'll mention this to Kairi.

* * *

" _I don't know when. I don't know how. But I know something's starting right now. Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be part of your world."_

* * *

Sora feels guilty spending time with this mermaid who wants more than the world she's been given. The two of them are like kindred spirits. The only thing Sora finds that separates them is their boundaries: Sora can go wherever he wants when he wants while the mermaid must hide all that worldly ambition in her secret grotto.

The mermaid's father despises the human world and if he knew his daughter's true intentions, things would go sour fast. The King's stone cold eyes fall to Sora and he runs broad fingers through his long white beard that floats majestically in the deep blue waters. Sora feels a prickling ram up his spine, like impatient hands blazing down the keyboard.

Sora almost wishes he could stay in the mermaid's place while she gets the chance to explore. Because when he chases horizons, he doesn't really find the adventure in it. He goes to these places and studiously learns everything about them, but not out of fun. Only to survive. And of course there's Kairi.

...and his friend.

But the journey is hollow. He should be delighted and full of boundless energy. He road a magic carpet out of a collapsing cave of wonders. He surfed down vines and grown to the size of skyscrapers. Yet he feels sad. None of it feels like anything. It makes more sense than it should.

He can't stop fighting. He's sick of it. These awful black creatures explode before him, little lit up hearts dissipating in their wake. It's a reminder to all the people that have been lost in this war.

Kairi's not here. Sora's not sure if he'll ever find her. He wonders what he will do if she really is gone. Will he ever stop looking? Will he ever find a love for these places he skips across like a stone?

He's not sure. But he defeats the sea witch and moves on; he can't stop looking because otherwise he might will himself to stop.

* * *

" _Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."_

* * *

Sora feels bad staying here. There are no signs of the dark creatures. His combat skills are likely needed elsewhere.

But this silly old bear needs help finding his friends. The storybook he lives in has been ravaged, the pages scattered across the corners of the universe. At first Sora thinks he'll never find the pages, but then while running his hands through the gold coins scattered in the tiger ruins, he finds one. Really he's got no choice but to return it.

There are so many pages and so many lost friends. It makes Sora's heart ache to imagine this bear forever wondering why his friends abandoned him, so he adds it onto his to do list.

Helping these cute animals is never a challenge. Mostly, it amounts to silly games. Like stopping the bees from popping the bear's balloons. Or blocking the tiger from trampling the rabbit's garden. Sora finds himself laughing up a storm with each turn of the page.

He does the work. He reunites the family. But he feels oddly separate from them. He has to find  _his_  family now. It's his lot in life, so he gets up and the animals ask him to stay a little while longer. The stars are pretty here up on the hill.

It makes him feel warm.

* * *

" _It's simple really, very clear. Like music drifting in the air, invisible, but everywhere."_

* * *

Sora finds it oddly fascinating to watch this skeleton and his friends try to figure out what makes a heart. Part of him feels that he should just tell them that they'll have no luck manufacturing one in a lab. But he refrains. Because the effort is obviously bringing the Frankensteinian puppet and the skeleton together, and he's kinda rooting for that to go down. Yes, yes. Sora's kind of a romantic (sometimes).

It is obvious to Sora that these people, no matter how ugly and horrific, already have hearts. Easily more so than some of the others he's faced. These people are struggling, they've hit the end of their journey and don't know what's next. It's not really about hearts. It's more of a midlife crisis thing.

Hoo-wee.

One day Sora will be old. He already feels the same dread these creatures do, so it's likely he'll go through the same theatrics.

The scientist eventually succeeds in making something that looks like a heart but then the pillow sack man steals it. He swallows it whole like a total weirdo and throws a tantrum when it gives him such minimal power.

Sora makes swift work of the pillow sack man and laughs when he deflates into a pathetic legion of bugs. But he decidedly does not laugh when the bugs possess into entirety of the towering manor. That's kind of weird.

Sora decides he's probably been here for too long, so he gets the dumb battle over with, seals the keyhole, and moves on.

It's fascinating to him how easy it is to save the world, and how not easy it is to find his friends.

But he's close. He can feel it.

* * *

" _Now think of the happiest things. It's the same as having wings!"_

* * *

The fairy boy tells Sora to never grow up. Sadness is a waste of time, he should just look on the bright side and good things will come. Well. That's actually very annoying. While Sora may not be an adult, he handles lifetimes of responsibility. The fairy boy is naive, but yeah, he's an eternally frozen in time youth who probably ran away from home to fights pirates. But that's his life. Not Sora's. Sora has to keep searching.

Of course it's here at his most petty and aggravated that he finds them. His friend is even meaner than before; apparently  _Sora_  is the one who's the bad friend here. Kairi doesn't have a heart anymore, and is in a coma. How could Sora be so heartless as to abandon her?

It makes Sora angry. He usually feels sad when he thinks about Kairi, but today all he can see is red. How dare his friend insinuate all that? Sora's been traveling the universe, hopping from world to world to find the two of them and  _he_  is the bad one? How was he supposed to know Kairi was here on this pirate ship?

Perhaps that's why his shadow peels off the ground to fight him. It hunches over and eyeballs him through its off-center, yellow peepers. The creature nearly kills him, but Sora feels oddly calm after slaying it. He knows that's what he could be if he chose to. So the solution is obvious; don't be a baddie, duh.

Ultimately, Sora's friend escapes, Kairi in tow. Things lighten up a bit here somehow, because the fairy boy teaches him not only to think about happy things but to remember them. It's how Sora learns to fly.

Yes. Sora can fly now. It's pretty cool.

The captain of the ship takes him on but really he doesn't stand a chance. But Sora still has a blast swashbuckling with him. It reminds him of the adventures he envisioned when he first found the Keyblade.

When Sora does leave this place, his heart's not so heavy as it was coming in, despite circumstances.

One day, he'll come back here with his friends. Sora noticed that his friend didn't seem to know how to fly. So Sora decides he'll teach him how to. Maybe then he won't be such a jerk.

* * *

" _There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart."_

* * *

Sora's friend is still an arrogant jerk. He steals Sora's Keyblade and for a while, Sora remembers being the loser who could never beat his friend in a race. But that's dumb. Sora's done a lot of amazing things, and he's not going to let a bully get to him.

If his friend won't see the light, then Sora will have to forget him. That's mean, but this is also survival. Sora can still save Kairi. He loves Kairi.

The key appears in his hand again and his friend is stunned. After all this time, how could he lose to a loser like Sora?

Sora decides to show him exactly how. They have a wild fight. Turns out that his friend is not wholly himself anymore. This man Sora vaguely remembers hearing about, Ansem, has taken control of him. His friend is trying to fight back against this inner darkness but he's not strong enough. His voice booms throughout the room, coated in this slick baritone that's not his own. But Sora still defeats him.

Standing alone in the hall, Sora doesn't really know what to do. Kairi's essentially dead and his friend might as well be. He's at the end of the trail and alone. But then he thinks about everything he's been through. All the people he's met and adversaries he's taken down. He's lived several lifetimes in just a few short months.

It's time for Kairi to have that now.

So Sora plunges the Keyblade into his own chest. It's horrible, worse than anything he's ever felt. It sears and burns and it makes him think of all the people he did this very same thing to. The rage burns within him and the darkness plumes out in a storm. No, he can't do this. He can't become a monster too. So he thinks about Kairi and the rest is easy.

There's a moment where Sora can't feel anything. A girlish voice rings in the air, and he's sure he can hear Kairi's heartbeat, but he dissolves into light just as she comes to him. The rest is fuzzy. He thinks he might be one of those dark creatures.

Sora walks among the monsters and it takes some time for him to collect himself. It gives him some pride that his worst self is apparently the shrimpiest of these little beasties. He wanders the halls of this scary castle and eventually he finds the purest of hearts. He hungers for it, but he resists and comes back into focus. It's Kairi.

He doesn't attack her like the other shadows. He just watches her. He hopes that will be enough.

Then he feels his own arms, his human arms, wrap around Kairi's back and they hold each other for some time.

Sora wants to stay with her, show her all the wonders like they were supposed to see together. But he has to save their friend now, and Kairi understands.

One more world.

* * *

" _Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water. And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness."_

* * *

The end of the world is as barren as one might suspect. For a second, Sora panics because he thinks he will just fall into the void. But fortunately this purple expanse of nothingness has some solidity to it. He walks across and fights some of the most fearsome monsters he's come to face. But they don't scare him anymore because Kairi's alive and waiting for him.

He reaches a door. A soft voice caresses his ears and tells him to make final preparations because this is the end of his journey. But Sora's been prepared to do this for a long time, so he opens the door and sets foot on his island.

His friend can no longer hold physical form. Ansem is all that Sora sees. Sora defeats Ansem but of course it's not over. Now Sora has to fight the beast from his nightmares again. After that, he fights Ansem for a second time. It's gruelling. He raises his key into the air, and this ghost grabs him from behind, keeping Sora's body splayed wide while Ansem lays it out on him.

But Sora holds it together because both he and his friend are counting on this. He wins.

His island is destroyed again and it makes him sad to see it go. Ansem rises again but what Sora sees disturb him. It's like the man himself was gutted, and used his innards to craft a battleship. All over, grotesque creatures and visages. Ansem himself is attached to the ship by an umbilical cord, and his phantom leads the ship as the disturbed visage of a bow. It's nothing like Sora has ever seen.

He wants to vomit but he cannot; he can't let them all down. So he charges forward and beats Ansem. Again and again and again. He won't put the Keyblade down as long as that man still draws breath.

Slowly, he tears the ship apart and eventually it's just him and Ansem, floating in the abyss. Ansem is desperate. He gloats and pledges to envelope the world in everlasting darkness.

But Ansem's wrong. The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But Sora knows that deep down there's a light that  _never_  goes out. Kingdom Hearts is light.

Sora ends up being right. The light shines and blisters Ansem into nothingness. But there is a heckuva lotta darkness left storming within that domain. He needs to close the door or all this will have been for naught. But he can't do it alone.

So it's a good thing that Riku finally returns.

Sora can't shut the door by himself, so Riku helps. And sacrifices himself. Because he's a big stinkin' showoff. But neither seems sad because they've already overcome the impossible. They'll find each other again.

* * *

" _Take care of her."_

* * *

Everything is getting sucked away. Falling away into darkness before beginning anew. But Sora doesn't care because Kairi's back. They reach out and take each other's hand. Kairi stands on a plot of sand, the edges slowly fading into the dark that will soon become ocean. She loses her balance fast. He does too.

Sora doesn't know what he's standing on but he knows he can't go back with her. He needs to find Riku. She needs to stay safe on the island. Things begin to separate and she's pulling away, and he really wishes it didn't have to be like this. But his journey's far from over.

But Sora stumbles and has to catch himself to not tumble into the abyss.

Kairi's holding his hand still, but she's not on her patch of sand. She hovers in the air and he has to pull with all his might to drag her to his spot of the world. She lands besides him and takes both of his hands into hers.

For a moment, they can see the vibrant sparks of their island materializing into thin air, but it's soon gone, overtaken by the new world they have landed on.

It's a place Sora's never seen before yet he can't pull his eyes away from her violet ones. Her hands slip free and fall to his shoulders. Their heads bow towards each other and they stay like this for some time.

"I don't want you to go out there alone again," she whispers. Her voice reminds him of the waves from their island.

He's not really sure what to say. I love you, maybe? Too soon?

He tries it anyways.

"I love you."

She responds fast. "I love you too Sora."

His fingers squeeze into her and he's afraid it's hurting her, but something about those words makes him crumple from within. He's crying, he thinks. Yes, that does seem to be the case. He hasn't cried in a long time even though he really wanted to.

There's a ker-thunk as his Keyblade tumbles into the dirt road; he didn't realize he was still holding it, but Kairi puts it down for him.

"Sorry," he mumbles, shoving his knuckle against his cheek to catch some tears.

She smiles. "It's okay. Um. So where do we start looking for Riku?"

Sora pulls away and looks around them. Green hills roll on endlessly. "Um. Well, you kinda just go until it works out. I found you on a pirate ship which I definitely didn't expect."

"A pirate ship?" she giggles. They twist next to each other and lead the other down the hills, hand in hand.

"Yeah, a pirate ship. Hey. Let me tell you all about it."


End file.
